Even before the attack on Fort Sanders began, there was choking sawdust drifting down on the rifle pits of the Mississippians and Georgians who drove the Union pickets in the night before.

The fort’s artillery fired on them during the driving and, desultorily, all night. Some of it was canister rounds, whose shotgun-like iron balls were packed in yellow sawdust. Burst canister shells, apparently excavated and cleaned by artifact/relic hunters, are sold at auction today.